Best small amp for a Fender Strat (mex)!

rccaulfield

Well have a mex on the way- just sold my old strat! Anyway i've a massive marshall amp in the house and you really need to crank it uo to get some decent tones-gonna sell her, So any advice for a small amp for personal use?
Line 6 were the best when i was a 10 hour a day man. I've been out of the loop so any help appreciated- Thanks!

Grolschevik

Laney VC15?

For quietish noodling and blues, a Pignose... To my mind, it sounds more authentic and touch sensitive than any modelling nonsense. Also sounds great with pedals in front. That said, I live in an apartment, and even the Pignose is too loud...

So, er, Pocket Pod and headphones?

items

Fender Blues Junior, perfect combo with Fender Guitars or any other. It's not just a small amp, many a pro player will use a Blues Junior in some from while recording @ studio. Have a quick look over youtube, never seen a complaint so far, like everything I am sure their is someone complaining about them but few and far between.

Cant be much more the 400 euro.

Fingers Mcginty

Roland Microcube :cool:

Grolschevik

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Roland Microcube :cool:

Nooo!

Right. I'm sick of this now. There's a reason we don't all use Pacificas and Cubes. If the government introduced an electric guitar course for the Leaving Cert, those would be the required tools.

Why do people keep recommending this made-of-plastic, looks-like-plastic, sounds-like-plastic piece of kit? It's like plugging your ME5 into your computer monitor speakers!

Fair enough, it's cheap. But come on...

Fingers, you play a soulful amp. Why would you tell this poor bloke to get one of those sonic and aesthetic monstrosities? Unless your "smiley coolface with shades" was deeply ironic.

Speaking of which, I also hate those "smiley coolface with shades" yokes...

Sandvich

The Microcube is actually pretty decent though, and the Jazz Chorus model can actually take pedals. But the Vox DA5 is better than it.

It depends how much you'd be willing to spend. I'd say the Super Champ XD, the one with the loads of different "models" on it but is completely tube driven. If I was into more bluesy, classic rock stuff I'd pick that up in a heartbeat.

Fingers Mcginty

Grolschevik wrote: »

Nooo!

Right. I'm sick of this now. There's a reason we don't all use Pacificas and Cubes. If the government introduced an electric guitar course for the Leaving Cert, those would be the required tools.

Why do people keep recommending this made-of-plastic, looks-like-plastic, sounds-like-plastic piece of kit? It's like plugging your ME5 into your computer monitor speakers!

Fair enough, it's cheap. But come on...

Fingers, you play a soulful amp. Why would you tell this poor bloke to get one of those sonic and aesthetic monstrosities? Unless your "smiley coolface with shades" was deeply ironic.

Speaking of which, I also hate those "smiley coolface with shades" yokes...

Grolschevik, Who pissed in your cornflakes eh?
The reason I recommended the microcube is because you can achieve nice tone at low volume with it which is what the OP is after I believe. Now I admit my cube does start to sound crap when you increase the volume too much. The speaker can't seem to handle the volume however this guy seems to be getting on just fine eh?

I think it's a great cheap little portable amp.
I'll keep my pacificas and cool icons to myself from now on

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Grolschevik wrote: »

Nooo!

Right. I'm sick of this now. There's a reason we don't all use Pacificas and Cubes. If the government introduced an electric guitar course for the Leaving Cert, those would be the required tools.

Why do people keep recommending this made-of-plastic, looks-like-plastic, sounds-like-plastic piece of kit? It's like plugging your ME5 into your computer monitor speakers!

Fair enough, it's cheap. But come on...

Fingers, you play a soulful amp. Why would you tell this poor bloke to get one of those sonic and aesthetic monstrosities? Unless your "smiley coolface with shades" was deeply ironic.

Speaking of which, I also hate those "smiley coolface with shades" yokes...

wow, someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning!

The pacifica + micro cube combo is an ideal starter pack for a beginner. They sound very good compared to the typical encore pack. One of my mates has a pacifica, another has an encore. The pacificais so much better, and not a lot more expensive

boycey

For what its worth Grolschevik and Fingers are both barking up the right tree, they're just different trees!

Something small and 'plugand play' like the micro-cube is great for house noodling without annoying the neighbours, and in fairness it can give you some great tones at low volume. The thing I don't like about them is I find they sound sterile in isolation, but hook up your mp3 and jam away and you stop picking holes with the tones and realise they're great jamming/practicing tools.

On the other hand Grolschevik is voting with his ears and is alluding to the more toneful sounds the likes of Fingers' Dr-Z mini Z will produce, and most small valve amps in fairness. A micro-cube or Line 6 Spider or whatever will have a hard time matching those tones once you can turn them up a bit - and thats the problem you have found with your Marshall.

From my own experience I think 15 watts valve is still too loud for the house - unless you're in a detached house with space between you and your neighbours. If you're after a valve amp purely for home usage I'd go for lower output - maybe 5 watts or under. Clean headroom will suffer but then you start realising what your guitar's volume knob is for! Marshall class 5, Blackstars HT5, Matamp Mini-Mat et al would at least let you turn them up a bit and acchieve the tones the amps are actually capable of, rather than having to set them as low as possible- at those kind of micro-volumes a modeller will sound just as good if not better.

I have both options- a Pocket Pod for house usage and my Matamp for when I get to hook up with the lads at the weekend and play loud, I love them both!

rccaulfield

Listen folks thanks for replies- should have said hoping for less then 250 euro( maybe uk for that) and yea you guessed right bluesy kinda hendrix/pink floyd tones maybe. Its kinda nice to have given up the band thing and just enjoy playin for the sake of it!
You've given me 3 to choose from and i'll pop into a shop and try em as thats the real test- waltons stock these amps to try em?

boycey

X-Music would have a better selection of amps for you to try, and a dedicated amp room to crank them a bit!

Dord

boycey wrote: »

From my own experience I think 15 watts valve is still too loud for the house - unless you're in a detached house with space between you and your neighbours. If you're after a valve amp purely for home usage I'd go for lower output - maybe 5 watts or under. Clean headroom will suffer but then you start realising what your guitar's volume knob is for! Marshall class 5, Blackstars HT5, Matamp Mini-Mat et al would at least let you turn them up a bit and acchieve the tones the amps are actually capable of, rather than having to set them as low as possible- at those kind of micro-volumes a modeller will sound just as good if not better.

From my own experience even something that's 3 watts is too loud for the house! You've seen it for yourself boycey, that little harmony amp of mine which is almost comical in size and construction is pretty damn loud.

I'd go for something like the Blackheart Killer Ant or similar very low wattage amps.

boycey

Dord wrote: »

From my own experience even something that's 3 watts is too loud for the house! You've seen it for yourself boycey, that little harmony amp of mine which is almost comical in size and construction is pretty damn loud.

I'd go for something like the Blackheart Killer Ant or similar very low wattage amps.

Yep, that little Harmony through my 2x12 produced a glorious racket alright - that was FUN!! I agree totally, we got to turn your amp up full and it sounded great - played softly we got a nice cleanish tone (again using the guitars volume knob!!) - and it snarled when payed hard - basically doing the things a valve amp should when given the chance. Great crack in a rehearsal room, not so good in a semi-d!!

The Z-VEX nano amp would be another interesting option, its pricier though.

Sandvich

A Class 5 is a horrible choice since you have to turn it up to get any distortion. I have an AC4 and if I had it on the 4 Watt setting there's no way I could get any kind of dirty sound in my apartment. Despite it having little headroom I can barely get it to break up at tolerable volumes. That's why I turn it down to 1/4W which can. Anything over 1W is too loud to crank.

boycey

Sandvich wrote: »

A Class 5 is a horrible choice since you have to turn it up to get any distortion. I have an AC4 and if I had it on the 4 Watt setting there's no way I could get any kind of dirty sound in my apartment. Despite it having little headroom I can barely get it to break up at tolerable volumes. That's why I turn it down to 1/4W which can. Anything over 1W is too loud to crank.

Living in an appartment and using anything with valves could be considered a 'horrible choice'.
But, since the OP has stated he's living in a house and has asked for suggestions on small amps that's what I'm doing, both solid state/modellers & valve.